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  • © 2019

Bilingual Education and Minority Language Maintenance in China

The Role of Schools in Saving the Yi Language

  • Offers insights on the Yi minority in China from an educationalist perspective
  • Compares the Chinese educational policies and practices as applied over the past 30 years
  • Contains indepth interviews with members of the Yi community, photographs of the linguistic landscape that surrounds them
  • Investigates the language attitudes and cultural identities of Yi students

Part of the book series: Multilingual Education (MULT, volume 31)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
  2. Introduction

    • Lubei Zhang, Linda Tsung
    Pages 1-22
  3. Creating the Yi: History, Society, and Languages

    • Lubei Zhang, Linda Tsung
    Pages 23-37
  4. Case Study of a Yi-Han Bilingual School in Liangshan

    • Lubei Zhang, Linda Tsung
    Pages 39-70
  5. Case Studies of Sani Yi in Yunnan

    • Lubei Zhang, Linda Tsung
    Pages 71-84
  6. Language Attitudes and Ethnic Identity of the Present Yi

    • Lubei Zhang, Linda Tsung
    Pages 85-111
  7. Language Used in Public Spaces

    • Lubei Zhang, Linda Tsung
    Pages 113-147

About this book

This book looks closely at Yi bilingual education practice in the southwest of China from an educationalist’s perspective and, in doing so, provides an insight toward our understanding of minority language maintenance and bilingual education implementation in China. The book provides an overview on the Yi people since 1949, their history, society, culture, customs and languages. Adopting the theory of language ecology, data was collected among different Yi groups and case studies were focused on Yi bilingual schools. By looking into the application of the Chinese government’s multilingual language and education policy over the last 30 years with its underlying language ideology and practices the book reveals the de facto language policy by analyzing the language management at school level, the linguistic landscape around the Yi community, as well as the language attitude and cultural identities held by present Yi students, teachers and parents. The book is relevant for anyone looking to more deeply understand bilingual education and language maintenance in today’s global context. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China

    Lubei Zhang

  • The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Linda Tsung

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Bilingual Education and Minority Language Maintenance in China

  • Book Subtitle: The Role of Schools in Saving the Yi Language

  • Authors: Lubei Zhang, Linda Tsung

  • Series Title: Multilingual Education

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03454-2

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-03453-5Published: 21 January 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-03454-2Published: 10 January 2019

  • Series ISSN: 2213-3208

  • Series E-ISSN: 2213-3216

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVII, 165

  • Number of Illustrations: 56 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Language Education, Educational Policy and Politics, Chinese, Minority Languages, Multilingualism

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access